B&O 10" sub replacement?

[Starship Enterprise]

No dash removal. Grill pops off (metal clips) and speaker has 2 screws. New speaker bolts right in. I cut wires off of old speaker and soldered to new speaker. And since their sold in pairs, you can sell second one.

Cool! That’s good to know. I might change the front speaker then if it’s that easy to get to.

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[DT-GT]

Center speaker really, really easy to replace. Only the speaker cover needs to be popped off, and speaker easy to remove.

Cucuru‘. Mustang GT can fit a lot of stuff! More than most think.

Greg: That’s a bit reassuring to know about the general stock speaker quality. Not ready to change the center speaker yet…sounds like I have to remove the dash? Yikes!

 

[Starship Enterprise]

Nice! So most any 3.5” speaker will do? 4 ohm speaker recommended?

Looking at this one…. Huge fan of JBL

https://www.amazon.com/JBL-GX328-Co...ics&sprefix=3.5+speaker,electronics,93&sr=1-2

 

[Cucurú]

Nice! So most any 3.5” speaker will do? 4 ohm speaker recommended?

Looking at this one…. Huge fan of JBL

https://www.amazon.com/JBL-GX328-Coaxial-Audio-Loudspeakers/dp/B08CPW4VFV/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1CWKRW1DI3DKL&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.HQxJN0FaayDfKgac1bgLf5I1ObrJGEgwU6EJMls9lq35d30bbfS0_XjMH_84Go0NYysz7u-xN1OUXRTSXL4ldVoVlbPqZ6EykSeeFkHUKTyzKegKNUILkWqa4kVU0eDuHi1YN3AhxjiaJjhrOoKIveY0W3L60VctJs5Gsx6e8SHE29cZWifXncdovzSh0qSETacMh92CkxWutkZa-8rJNXI-WFIW5sfgxZbarRS65hbGawfgPr9bCYJkwLLJVupqoJ-TorhKrHBlo6ZuCPQg_9fwGyHcEo-bduW2u8TqM2w.LgMoXKadTNKlv1y2vT9SxqZqOWHIazbr_8YlGkyVDBE&dib_tag=se&keywords=3.5"+speaker&qid=1751140103&s=electronics&sprefix=3.5+speaker,electronics,93&sr=1-2

Those look nice.

 

[Starship Enterprise]

Under closer inspection, Those are 2.7 ohm, though….so afraid they will be brighter than the other speakers. I think I need to look at 4 ohm so the center doesn’t pop too hard over the door speakers.

Might get these Kickers.

https://www.amazon.com/Kicker-46CSC...ics&sprefix=3.5+speaker,electronics,93&sr=1-3

Or maybe the Infinity 3.5 as Cobrakit noted.

 

[Cobrakit]

These are ones several of us have used. Made by Harman.

 

[Starship Enterprise]

Cobra….I think the ohms on that speaker are too low for my guesswork, though the fact many of you used it says a lot.

OK I took the center speaker out real quick. The top is 3.5” but the opening is slightly smaller with the screw holes 4” apart.

The opening is only like 3.25” wide and Ford online specs at the B&O website show the center speaker is 80mm or 3.25”. So now I wonder if a 3.5” speaker is a direct drop in?

Specs are 8 ohm and only 12.5 watt. That was directly from the sticker attached to the speaker. it IS a crap paper speaker.

I would hesitate to put anything lower than a 4 ohm speaker or the center speaker would be much louder than the rest.

Need to do more research Before picking a replacement. Because overthinking stuff is what I do!

 

[Starship Enterprise]

OK, quick research tells me I need to replace the 8ohm speaker with 8 ohm. Or sound balance goes wack.

read here….

https://soundcertified.com/what-happens-use-different-impedance-speaker-on-crossover/

 

[Starship Enterprise]

OK, after too much research and some frustration I settled on this 3.5 inch speaker.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Q3M9852?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

Yes it still has a paper cone, but the magnet looks beefy and seems well rated and nice quality.

What makes the stock stereo somewhat unique is that it is calibrated as a surround sound system. The center dash speaker is specifically designed to be a center voice speaker in surround mode and is 8 ohm 12.5 watts. Putting a 4 ohm speaker in it’s place does seem to work as attested by those of you who have done it…and to be fair, it might just result in vocals being stronger in a song.

But on paper, it creates an imbalanced sound and even possible strain on the amp as it now directs more power to that speaker than the others. if interested, read the article I posted the link to in the previous post. Or even just Google the question and learn about ohms, speakers and resistance. I learned a lot more just this aft. But I always knew matching ohms can be very important. I’m far from a music engineering expert, so I just cautiously try to stay in my lane based on research….lol.

The Pioneer sub many of you have used is advertised as compatible with 2,4,6 and 8 ohms. so no worries there…..I did order the Pioneer.

 

[AZ_Ryan]

I replaced the sub today. Not a hard job, but a little more work than I thought.

Couple of tips for you guys -

1. It's really easy to break the clips on the outer ring. I didn't totally understand how these worked, but once I got it off I realized you can a get a small screw driveer and push in each tab from the outside of the ring. Just get a headlamp and you can just barley see them.

Broken ^

2. Cutting the holes out of the new speaker metal to use the factory holes was way more involved than I thought. This was by far the most time consuming part. I used a dremmel and cutting wheel. You'll need to cut it like this in order to use the factory holes and screws.

3. The extension wires are really easy. No need to worry about all the different colors. Just put the red wire of each extension through the red/positive clip on each side of the speaker. The other is goes to negative. You can't flip the extensions when attaching to the factory clips. They only go one one way.

4. You don't need a ton of Polyphil. The inside off the box doesn't have a ton of space. I packed it at first and ended up taking some out. Looks like there is more in the picture than there is. I kind of just lined the inside with it. Also, there is no vent in the box, so obviously Ford wasn't concerned about heat.

Three bolts and a wire clip is all there is holding the sub box in. Super easy.

To my ear, the base has much more depth and clarity now. It's not "boomy" like it was before. I can actually turn the up the Bass all the way now without any distortion or aggressive thumping. I'm no audiophile, but I think this is a worthy mod.

 

[Starship Enterprise]

Thanks for taking the time to show your installation! Much appreciated! That will help when my Pioneer comes in.

I still might drill new holes in the box instead. Never putting the stock sub back in, so it might be easier in the long run. Especially since I don’t plan to put the stock cover back on and use the Pioneer trim ring.

 

[AZ_Ryan]

Thanks for taking the time to show your installation! Much appreciated! That will help when my Pioneer comes in.

I still might drill new holes in the box instead. Never putting the stock sub back in, so it might be easier in the long run. Especially since I don’t plan to put the stock cover back on and use the Pioneer trim ring.

The factory holes are pretty close to the Pioneer ones. Drilling new ones so close might be problematic.

 

[Starship Enterprise]

You bring up a valid point. That’s why I thought to either rotate the speaker slightly, or fill the stock holes. Easy to fill the holes with some epoxy or even with some plastic sprue from one of my model kits. All I need is resistance against the screws in the new holes.

That said, you did a really nice clean job dremelling out the slots on the speaker!

 

[Yamazuki]

I replaced the sub today. Not a hard job, but a little more work than I thought.

Couple of tips for you guys -

1. It's really easy to break the clips on the outer ring. I didn't totally understand how these worked, but once I got it off I realized you can a get a small screw driveer and push in each tab from the outside of the ring. Just get a headlamp and you can just barley see them.

Broken ^

2. Cutting the holes out of the new speaker metal to use the factory holes was way more involved than I thought. This was by far the most time consuming part. I used a dremmel and cutting wheel. You'll need to cut it like this in order to use the factory holes and screws.

3. The extension wires are really easy. No need to worry about all the different colors. Just put the red wire of each extension through the red/positive clip on each side of the speaker. The other is goes to negative. You can't flip the extensions when attaching to the factory clips. They only go one one way.

4. You don't need a ton of Polyphil. The inside off the box doesn't have a ton of space. I packed it at first and ended up taking some out. Looks like there is more in the picture than there is. I kind of just lined the inside with it. Also, there is no vent in the box, so obviously Ford wasn't concerned about heat.

Three bolts and a wire clip is all there is holding the sub box in. Super easy.

To my ear, the base has much more depth and clarity now. It's not "boomy" like it was before. I can actually turn the up the Bass all the way now without any distortion or aggressive thumping. I'm no audiophile, but I think this is a worthy mod.

Nice write up!
I did pretty much the exact same things you did here, even cutting out the holes in the new sub with a dremel and cut-off wheel.

One thing to note, and this doesn't matter if you are planning to use a custom speaker grill, but the factory one will not fit if you try to turn the speaker and/or drill different holes for the sub. The ring that the speaker cover snaps onto mounts using the same holes and turning it will cause the cover to be misaligned with the box.

 

[dusman59]

I wanted the stock look. AZ Ryan did a great job. If anything should go wrong with the audio system I don't think they would deny warranty and notice the sub was changed.

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